XXXII. | LARCHES. 261 
there are, doubtless, many Larch trees of straight growth 
in Italy, since it is stated on good authority that the 
greater number of the houses in Venice are built upon 
piles of this timber, particularly those of which the 
supports are alternately exposed to wet and dry; many 
of these piles, after being in place for ages, are said not 
to have the least appearance of decay. 
This wood evidently stood in high favour in early 
times. Julius Czesar—who called it “Lignum igni im- 
penetrabile,” because he could not burn it with the same 
facility as other timber—used it for every purpose when- 
ever he could obtain it. Tiberius Cesar brought it over 
long distances from the forests of Rhetia for the repara- 
tion of several bridges, and Pliny relates that a Larch 
tree, measuring 120 feet long and 2 feet in thickness, 
from end to end, was intended to be used in one of 
these. It was, however, preserved for a long time as a 
curiosity, and ultimately employed in the building of a 
large amphitheatre. 
The Polish Larch tree is generally of straight growth, 
and of dimensions rather exceeding the Italian variety. 
It is also coarser in the grain, more knotty, and has 
a larger amount of alburnum, or sap-wood. 
The Russian Larch tree attains dimensions superior 
to either of the foregoing descriptions. A cargo of this 
timber, very long and straight, was imported into this 
country a few years since from the district of the Petchora, 
a river flowing from the Ural Mountains into the Arctic 
Ocean. 
This parcel passed into the hands of the Government 
for the service of Woolwich Dockyard, where a portion 
of it was employed experimentally in ship-building, for 
